A cafe called Chalait is opening in the former home of 2Beans on Amsterdam Avenue and 82nd Street. Chalait specializes in matcha, a kind of tea, and sources its ingredients from “renowned regions of Japan,” a sign outside says. It will also serve coffee products through a partnership with Counter Culture Coffee. Thanks to Jane, Maria, Chris J., Carrie, Michelle and Lisa for the tips and photos.
Gazala’s Place is now open at 447 Amsterdam Avenue between 81st and 82nd streets. The Druze restaurant is similar to the one that closed a few years ago, with some changes. “New dishes in addition to her classic spreads, salads, fish, and kebabs include shrimp hummus, a cauliflower tahini salad, and shawarma. The bar in the 100-seat space focuses on Israeli wine and cocktails with arak, an anise liquor,” Eater reported.
Lincoln Square Steak at 208 West 70th Street has closed for a renovation and will reopen on September 5 with a new chef and new management. Spiros Georgedkis, formerly of Quality Meats, will be the new executive chef and the restaurant will also unveil a new menu. The interior, shown in a rendering above, is being designed by Satoshi Karasawa.
The former location of Manhattan Brew & Vine at 109th and Columbus will become a Japanese restaurant and bubble tea cafe, says our tipster Dan. Manhattan Brew & Vine closed after co-owner Damian Ramirez was shot and killed outside in December.
A renovation that scraps the bordello look at Lincoln Square Steak would solve half of the restaurant’s problem.
Here’s hoping they also scale back the portions and prices — the current menu is more suited to business dinners in Midtown or FiDi than relaxing meals on the UWS.
Very True. I find the interior so off putting that I stopped going in.
Not an authentic Japanese restaurant if it serves Bubble Tea, which is Chinese.
My wife and I dined at Gazala’s Place on Wednesday night. The food and the service were both good. I wish we could go again. But the noise level at Gazala’s Place was intolerable, way too loud to enjoy a meal there. I wish the proprietors had taken noise levels into account in designing their space. Gazala’s Is the loudest restaurant I’ve been to–and that is saying quite a lot when you consider just how many establishments are uncomfortably loud.
do you mean noise level of people talking or was there music playing? I went to a French place on the UES side a few weeks ago and had to leave because it was a very small space and they had a three piece band playing so loud I could not hear myself talk. At 2 in the afternoon.
For some reason I feel that space is cursed, nothing survives in that space. Perhaps something more affordable!
Which Space ?
I think EJ’s survived there for quite a few years.
As was Silk Road Palace.
Oh good! Another Coffee/Tea place. “The Coffee and Chocolate place closed so we will replace it with a Tea and Coffee place.” Good Idea! Will be closed within a year. Do we need another Coffee chain? Joe, Joe and the Juice (for those that need Juice and Coffee), Jack’s Stir Brew, Irving Farm, Counter Culture, Bluestone Lane, and the dreaded Starbucks. They should talk to the owners of the two Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Stores (closed) and Teavana (Closed).
“They should talk to the owners of the two Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Stores (closed) and Teavana (Closed).”
Not really a great example. Teavana closed ALL stores in the country, and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf closed all NYC locations, not just those on the UWS (and, they’re in the process of reopening!) The other coffee shops in the neighborhood seem to be doing quite well, and it’s nice to have options. I’m happy to see Blue Bottle open in the neighborhood, and am crossing my fingers for a Gregory’s, too.
It always cracks me up every time someone makes a comment about the “dreaded Starbucks”. In the late 70’s all the “with it” New Yawkers were all abuzz about this quaint little coffee shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market that roasted “just the BEST coffee, dahling!” Business travelers and tourists would stuff bags of beans in their return luggage. 40-plus years later the same coffee is available on every other street corner, but now it’s “dreaded”.
SOME people wouldn’t be caught dead with anything mainstream. God forbid you LIKE something on its own merit and not worried whether or not everyone else does too. I like the taste of Starbucks coffee. Always have. I’m not too concerned whether or not 10 people or 10,000,000 people agree with me.